


Alrin’s Pact

by Vai_Fate



Series: Alrin’s Stories [1]
Category: Dungeons and Dragons - Fandom
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 15:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19153603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vai_Fate/pseuds/Vai_Fate
Summary: Alrin is a Drow cast out of society for breaking a law. Now, he is in the run from Lolth’s servants, and he has only one way out.





	Alrin’s Pact

Alrin had been running for what felt like days. It was difficult to tell time deep below the surface without any way to count it. Had it been weeks? Months? It was impossible to tell. All he knew was that he was on borrowed time. Retrievers had be searching for him by now. No Drow broke a law in the Underdark without punishment.

As he jogged through the dark stone caves far removed from the sun, his Drow eyes saw the stones where another species might see an inky void in all directions. All he could do was run as far away from the rest of the Drow as possible. Wherever he ended up, he would have to stay there.

The hours blended together as Alrin continued to wind his way through the stone labyrinth. Down here, it would take skill and a bit of luck to avoid the creeping terrors that lurked in the darkness. Any wrong step could put him at the mercy of any sort of horror.

Eventually, the faint sound of scraping metal reached his ears. It was a retriever, a metallic replicas of giant spiders. It’s metal limbs produced a distinct spine-tingling sound as they scraped along the stone halls of the Underdark.

_Its found me,_ Alrin realized with dread. There was no escaping a retriever when it found somebody. The arachnid automatons had only one job: track down a target and bring it back through any means. They had no other directives, and they were terribly efficient at carrying it out.

Alrin quickened his pace as the faint scraping grew ever so slightly louder. He started to sprint through the stone hallways with reckless abandon, hoping that he could do the impossible. Deep down, he knew he was already dead. Attempting to escape was pointless.

Suddenly, his foot no longer found purchase on the stone beneath him, and he tumbled down a perfectly smooth slope into a massive cavern that had to be at least one hundred meters across. When he eventually stopped rolling, he pulled himself up and looked around the cavern in amazement. It was completely smooth and there were no flaws in the stonework. The cavern was circular, and pitched down less gently than he would have liked to a center. The center was a flat floor seven meters across with four stone torches that burned a gentle orange, but consumed no fuel as far as he could tell. Between the torches was a slightly raised stone circle inlaid with a complex array of runes, and he could instinctively tell tat it was protected with incredibly powerful wards.

While Alrin was busy observing the room he was in, the sound of retriever limbs had grown louder and louder. Soon enough, one burst out of the tunnel Alrin had entered from and lunged towards him. Shocked out of his daze, Alrin dove to the side to dodge, but he was too slow. The retriever was going to smash directly into the exhausted elf, and his life would be forfeit.

But it didn’t happen. The metal spider seemed to hit an invisible barrier that protected Alrin.

“What?” He said aloud, unintentionally from his new position on the ground.

“You’re welcome.”

Alrin jumped up and sound around to find the source of the voice. Standing on top of the runic circle was another Drow, dressed in rags, but it had blood red eyes, a color no Drow would be born with. “I’m still waiting for the ‘thank you,’ by the way,” the Drow added lazily.

“Thanks?” Alrin replied. “Who are you.”

The Drow in rags frowned. “My name?” he asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, “is none of your business. I am a devil, and I would like to make a deal.”

Alrin scoffed. “A deal with a devil? You think I’m just going to agree to that? You’re crazy.”

“I think crazy is a more apt description for somebody who disrespects the person who just saved their life and has the power to let them die.” The devil gestured to the retriever that crouched mere centimeters behind Alrin, along with the rest of the retriever pack that filed into the cavern. “You have two options here: accept my terms or die.”

Alrin thought it over for a second. He looked the devil in the eyes and asked, “what are the terms of your contract?” with resigned voice.

The devil smiled. “I will be your patron, and you will be my warlock. I will send you to the surface with a few new talents, and you will use them to help me escape this prison. I will remove your weakness to the sun so you may carry out your end of the contract. I will send you messages to help you find what I want, and when you have gathered the necessary materials to break my bonds, you will return to this room and you will break this seal.” The devil pointed to the runes at his feet. Then, he held out his hand to Alrin. “These are the terms of the contract.”

Alrin gave the devil’s hand a contemptuous look. “If you’re here, then why can you just walk out of this room and leave?”

The devil sighed. “This is not my true form. This is merely a projection of myself to speak with you, and even then, I cannot extend it past these wards. My real body is buried deep beneath your feet.” With a devious smile, the devil said, “let me show you.”

Suddenly, Alrin could see straight through the floor of the room. Deep below, he could see a giant red mass that thrashed and writhed. Then the vision was gone. Alrin swallowed hard. “One more thing: when I have fulfilled my contract, you will have no power over me.”

The devil laughed. “That’s fine by me.” His hand was still, extended to shake Alrin’s. Alrin took a second to reconsider the deal. He looked into the devil’s blood red eyes, then to the retriever behind him. Its mouthparts twitched and its legs scraped against the smooth stone. He knew what he had to do. _It’s just business,_ he thought. _I’m not going to throw my life away._

“Deal.” Alrin placed his hand in the devil’s and they shook. In an instant, blood red flames engulfed Alrin’s right arm, and then they were gone in a second. He didn’t have to time to scream. Where the flames touched his flesh, rings of fiendish runes were left in a glittering blood red script. He felt a small stone press against his palm, held in place by the devil’s hand.

The devil leaned forward and hissed, “good luck, Alrin,” into his ear. Everything around Alrin erupted into the red flames that had just engulfed his arm, and he grit his teeth as he was whisked away to the surface in a whirlwind of fiendish fire.

Alrin reappeared at the mouth of a cave. He opened his right hand and studied it. The words of his contract were still winding around his forearm, and a small blood-hued carnelion crystal was in his palm.

“That crystal will help you focus your powers,” his new master’s disembodied voice whispered into his ear.

Alrin grimaced at the thought of his new contract, but at least he had enough time to live for the near future.


End file.
